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Bura and Hardwick
The Church Studios at Crouch End, which Bura and Hardwick used as a studio in the 1980s before Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of Eurythmics purchased it.
Born
Barnett “Bob” Bura

(1924-09-25)25 September 1924
Fitzrovia, London, England
John Hardwick
(1937-05-01)1 May 1937
Edgware, Middlesex, England
Died7 April 2018(2018-04-07) (aged 93)
Somerset, England
24 September 2004(2004-09-24) (aged 67)
Somerset, England
Occupations
  • Animators
  • Puppeteers
Years active1955–1990[1]
Known for
Stop Motion Limited
Company typePrivate limited company[2]
IndustryAnimation
Founded21 July 1971 (1971-07-21)[2]
Founders
  • Bob Bura
  • John Hardwick
Defunct5 December 2023 (2023-12-05)[2]
HeadquartersPurley Way,
Croydon
,
England

Bura and Hardwick was the name credited to represent the duo of Bob Bura and John Hardwick, who worked variably as puppeteers and animators in the United Kingdom. From the mid-1950s to the 1980s they contributed to a number of children's television series.[3]

They are best remembered for their stop motion animations, most notably the Trumptonshire trilogy: Camberwick Green, Trumpton, and Chigley.[4] The term “stop motion” was in fact the registered trademark of their company.[5]

History

[edit]

Barnett “Bob” Bura and John Hardwick first met in 1955. While the former and the latter's sister were touring seasides with Punch and Judy shows, she became unavailable due to getting married, and recommended her younger brother to take over.[6][7][4] The two created marionettes for the theatre, that performed at the Soho Fair. It was here where they viewed the original 1933 King Kong, inspiring them to want to create stop motion films. Their initial experiments took the form of animating pop music.[7]

Later that year, they were asked to work at Lime Grove Studios,[8][9][7] and began working for the Television Puppet Theatre under producer Gordon Murray.[7][3] Usually working with marionettes, the two also operated rod puppets for eighteen adaptations of the Toytown stories by S.G. Hulme Beaman.[10][11] In 1962[12] Bura and Hardwick began their long association with BBC Schools,[9] providing animations for them as well as for other BBC productions.[8][7] The Puppet Theatre was closed in 1963 alongside the Children's Department[13] by Sydney Newman,[14] who used the Theatre's former studio space to film special effects for his creation Doctor Who.[15][16][17][18] However, the two soon found themselves once again working under Murray, creating the animation for Camberwick Green, the inaugural instalment of the Trumptonshire trilogy.[9][4] The trilogy was all animated in their recently acquired homemade studio in Womersley Road, Crouch End.[19]

During the 1970s and 1980s, the studio's work was said to have been credited frequently within a single week's edition of the Radio Times.[19] According to Bob Bura, the BBC ensured that they would remain in work;[15] most of their filmography was produced for the corporation.[20][9] In the early 1980s, Bura and Hardwick moved from Womersley Road to what would become the Church Studios,[9][21][15] but due to pressure from the local council (owing to the way it was then operated),[15][22] they had to sell part of it, which ended up going to Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of pop group Eurythmics.[15][9][23] Here they were able to complete their album Sweet Dreams,[4] which propelled them to international success.[24][25][26] In 1984 they purchased the studio from the animators.[23][21]

A while later, the BBC decided to cut their ties with Bura and Hardwick, owing to the desire for a substantial increase in outsourced productions.[15] This was done as a result of the Broadcasting Act 1990's requirements for at least 25% of its output to be sourced from independent companies,[27][28] which would have doomed Bura and Hardwick's future careers; nonetheless they were hopeful that they would find a good sponsor to continue.[15] Hardwick died in 2004,[8] Bura in 2018.[9][4]

Techniques

[edit]

Bura and Hardwick utilised many innovative filming techniques, which developed throughout their stop motion work.

The film cameras initially used exposed at twenty-four frames a second,[9][4] so Bura modified them to operate at only a single frame.[9][4][19] This allowed for smoother movement compared to other stop motion productions of the time,[9][4] which was partially due to their desire to film one frame per movement, compared to two as other studios may have done.[9] Each frame took an hour to shoot,[8] and by the end of a given week Bura, Hardwick, and their team of assistants may have completed at least two minutes and 30 seconds of footage.[5][9]

The puppets were fixed to a soft base with pins in between shots, which saved time as opposed to being screwed onto the animation table.[5][4] In order to make sure that they would not be effected by the heat of the studio lights (as had happened during filming of Camberwick Green),[29] later productions had further modifications made to the camera.[19] As was utilised during the year-long production, certain props would be marked in ways that ensured they would be moved at a consistent level each shot.[5] The episode PC McGarry features a smoke effect filmed in real-time, notable for the lack of motion for anything else in the sequence.[30][31] This technique was further used in the first thirteen episodes of the 1972 stop motion version of the Toytown series.[32][33][34][35][36]

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the studio devised a new technique: animating the background. A film would be reflected behind the puppets by a transit screen at a narrow angle, which necessitated another modification to the front camera.[9][19] This was seen in various BBC Schools projects, including Bura and Hardwick's work for Words and Pictures.[9] The term “stop motion” was originally the trademark of their company,[5] Stop Motion Limited,[2][9][19][4][8] referring to their productions.[5] However, it became used to refer to all animation made using puppets moved by small increments, becoming perhaps better well known than the animators who coined it;[5] a generic trademark.[37][38]

At the request of Hardwick, Camberwick and the rest of the Trumptonshire trilogy was filmed in colour as opposed to black-and-white, requiring the first episode (Peter the Postman) to be reshot.[29] This ensured a long period of repeats for the trilogy,[5][39][40][41][42][43][4] in keeping with Bura's philosophy regarding their work together:

Everything we do, we do in a position that we think people will want to see it forever. That sounds terribly big-headed, but we thought that whatever it is we’re going to do is going to be seen. We knew that.[29]

Accolades and legacy

[edit]

Bura and Hardwick's 1968 animation of Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka was well received, praised by the BBC as a highlight of that year,[44] and by The Guardian as “by far the most imaginative British use of puppets one has seen on Television”.[45] Their 1978 production of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King won the BAFTA for Flame of Knowledge in 1979.[9][46]

The animation style created by the studio for the Trumptonshire trilogy has been recreated and parodied numerous times: commercials for Windmill Bakery[47] and Quaker Oats,[48] appearances in the BBC's Future Generations,[48] and pastiches in Life on Mars[49] and the music video for Radiohead's 2016 single Burn the Witch.[50]

Filmography

[edit]

As puppeteers

[edit]
Year Title Notes Ref.
1955-1964 A Rubovian Legend 29 episodes [51]
1956-1958 Toytown 18 episodes [52]
1956 The Bird of Truth TV movie [53]
The Holy Mice [54]
1957 The Emperor's Nightingale [55]
Beauty and the Beast [56]
1958 The Emperor's New Clothes [57]
1959 The Petrified Princess [58]
The King of the Golden River [59]
1960 The Crumpot Candles [60]
The Magic Tree [61]
The Balloon and the Baron TV movie, special effects [62]
1961 Beauty and the Beast Unrelated to 1957 production, 2 episodes, special effects [63]
Great Captains 2 episodes, special effects [64][65]
1962 They Hanged My Saintly Billy TV movie [66]
The Dancing Princess [67]
1962-1963 Pops and Lenny 10 episodes [68]
1965-1966 Hey Presto! It's Rolf 9 episodes [69]

As animators

[edit]
Year Title Notes Ref.
1962 Air, Land, and Water First project for BBC Schools, 3 episodes [70]
1963 Blue Peter 3 episodes [71][72][73]
1965-1966 Merry-Go-Round 4 episodes [74][75][76][77]
1966 Camberwick Green 13 episodes [9]
1967 Pinky and Perky's Island Animators for first 4 episodes, puppeteers for next 9 (13 total) [78]
Trumpton 13 episodes [9]
The Furry Folk on Holiday Short film [79]
1968 Petrushka Short film for BBC Schools [9]
1969 Chigley 13 episodes
Mary, Mungo and Midge Camera operators, 13 episodes
1972 The Adventures of Sir Prancelot Camera operators, 31 episodes
Larry the Lamb 13 episodes [8][80]
1973-1975 Doctor Who Studio for model sequences, 7 episodes [81][82]
1974-1975 Captain Pugwash Camera operators, 30 episodes [9]
1975-1990 Words and Pictures 58 episodes
1978 Coppélia Short film for Music Time
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
1979 Lieutenant Kijé [83]
1984 Sleeping Beauty [9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Music Time - 19th March 1990 - BBC Programme Index". 19 March 1990. Retrieved 8 December 2024. Final Radio Times listing for Bura and Hardwick.
  2. ^ a b c d "Stop Motion Limited overview - Companies House". 5 April 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b "The Queen's Dragon - 15th December 1955 - BBC Programme Index". 15 December 1955. Retrieved 8 December 2024.First Radio Times listing for the combined work of Bura and Hardwick.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Obituary: Bob Bura, animator and puppeteer behind Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley - The Scotsman". 4 June 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "The Animators: Bura and Hardwick - Trumptonshire Web". Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Bob Bura and John Hardwick Biography - Realm of Rubovia". Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Bob Bura pt3 of 4". YouTube. 7 April 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "John Hardwick obituary". The Guardian. 26 November 2004. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Bob Bura obituary". The Guardian. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Printed Media - Realm of Rubovia". Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Toytown - The Tale of the Magician - BBC Programme Index". 17 January 1956. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Air, Land, and Water: Climate- What is It? - BBC Programme Index". 30 April 1962. Retrieved 11 December 2024. First Radio Times listing for Bura and Hardwick's work on a BBC Schools project.
  13. ^ McGown, Alistair (August 2011). "Voice of the Daleks - Roy Skelton obituary". Doctor Who Magazine (437). Panini Comics: 34.
  14. ^ "A Minute in a Life of Years - A Tribute to Sydney Newman". The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g "Bob Bura pt4 of 4". YouTube. 7 April 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  16. ^ "The Complete Second Doctor". Doctor Who Magazine (Special Edition). Panini Comics. 4 June 2003.
  17. ^ "The Complete Third Doctor". Doctor Who Magazine (Special Edition). Panini Comics. 5 September 2002.
  18. ^ "The Complete Fourth Doctor: Volume One". Doctor Who Magazine (Special Edition). Panini Comics. 1 September 2004.
  19. ^ a b c d e f "The Crouch End Studios That Gave Us Captain Pugwash and Trumpton". Londonist. 15 March 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  20. ^ "Search results for "Bura and Hardwick" at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  21. ^ a b "History - The Church Studios". Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  22. ^ "Hymns and Rock Music: Park Chapel, Crouch End". Hornsey Historical Society. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  23. ^ a b Doyle, Tom (July 2018). "Classic Tracks: Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'". Sound On Sound.
  24. ^ "Eurythmics Perform 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' in 1983". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  25. ^ "Eurythmics - Official Chart History". Official Charts. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  26. ^ "35 Years Ago: Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams' Become Reality". 12 January 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  27. ^ BBC WoCC review, BBC Trust, 2012
  28. ^ "Broadcasting Act 1990". Legislation.gov.uk. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  29. ^ a b c "Radio 4 documentary transcript - Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley". Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  30. ^ "Trumptonshire under the microscope - Trumptonshire Web". Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  31. ^ "PC McGarry". Camberwick Green. 28 February 1966. BBC.
  32. ^ "The Arkville Dragon". Larry the Lamb. 18 September 1972. Thames Television.
  33. ^ "The Tale of the Magician". Larry the Lamb. 2 October 1972. Thames Television.
  34. ^ "Mr Growser Moves". Larry the Lamb. 9 October 1972. Thames Television.
  35. ^ "The Showing Up of Larry the Lamb". Larry the Lamb. 16 October 1972. Thames Television.
  36. ^ "The Great Toytown War". Larry the Lamb. 13 November 1972. Thames Television.
  37. ^ "genericide". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  38. ^ Fisher, William (n.d.). "Overview of Trademark Law". Harvard Law School. "Under some circumstances, terms that are not originally generic can become generic over time (a process called "genericity"), and thus become unprotected."
  39. ^ "Watch with Mother". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  40. ^ T.J. Worthington "Part Four: “Here is a Box, a Musical Box...” Archived 21 April 2013 at archive.today, Off the Telly, February 2006
  41. ^ "Search results for Camberwick Green at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  42. ^ "Search results for Trumpton at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  43. ^ "Search results for Chigley at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  44. ^ BBC Handbook 1969. England: BBC. 1969. ISBN 0563083956.
  45. ^ "Petrushka - 4th May 1968". 4 May 1968. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  46. ^ "Television / Rediffusion Star Awards: Flame of Knowledge". BAFTA. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  47. ^ "Windmill Bakery Windy Milller ceramic condiment setpots". Trumptonalia.homestead.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  48. ^ a b "Quaker Oats ads - Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley". Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  49. ^ Life on Mars: The Complete Series Two DVD – "Behind the Scenes of Episode 5"
  50. ^ "Radiohead: Burn the Witch review - a return the world might have hoped for". The Guardian. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  51. ^ "Gordon Murray's Puppet Plays - Realm of Rubovia". Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  52. ^ "Search results for Toytown at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  53. ^ "The Bird of Truth - BBC Programme Index". 12 July 1956. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  54. ^ "The Holy Mice - BBC Programme Index". 16 December 1956. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  55. ^ "The Emperor's Nightingale - BBC Programme Index". 16 July 1957. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  56. ^ "Beauty and the Beast - BBC Programme Index". 10 December 1957. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  57. ^ "The Emperor's New Clothes - BBC Programme Index". 27 April 1958. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  58. ^ "The Petrified Princess - BBC Programme Index". 27 April 1958. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  59. ^ "The King of the Golden River - BBC Programme Index". 27 October 1959. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  60. ^ "The King of the Golden River - BBC Programme Index". 5 January 1960. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  61. ^ "The Magic Tree - BBC Programme Index". 6 December 1960. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  62. ^ "The Balloon and the Baron - BBC Programme Index". 26 December 1960. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  63. ^ "Search results for Beauty and the Beast at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  64. ^ "Great Captains - Admiral Lord Nelson - BBC Programme Index". 28 February 1961. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  65. ^ "Great Captains - The Duke of Wellington - BBC Programme Index". 18 April 1961. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  66. ^ "They Hanged My Saintly Billy - BBC Programme Index". 4 May 1962. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  67. ^ "The Dancing Princess - BBC Programme Index". 22 May 1962. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  68. ^ "Search results for Pops and Lenny at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  69. ^ "Search results for Hey Presto! It's Rolf at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  70. ^ "Search results for Air, Land, and Water at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  71. ^ "Blue Peter - 11th February 1963 - BBC Programme Index". 11 February 1963. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  72. ^ "Blue Peter - 6th May 1963 - BBC Programme Index". 6 May 1963. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  73. ^ "Blue Peter - 7th May 1963 - BBC Programme Index". 7 October 1963. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  74. ^ "Merry-Go-Round - Making Shadow Puppets - BBC Programme Index". June 1965. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  75. ^ "Merry-Go-Round - Adventures in Printing - BBC Programme Index". 25 November 1965. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  76. ^ "Merry-Go-Round - 24th March 1966 - BBC Programme Index". 24 March 1966. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  77. ^ "Merry-Go-Round - 29th March 1966 - BBC Programme Index". 29 March 1966. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  78. ^ "Search results for Pinky and Perky's Island at the BBC Programme Index". Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  79. ^ "The Furry Folk on Holiday". Carey Blyton. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  80. ^ "Stories from Toytown Featuring Larry the Lamb (TV Series 1972–1974) ⭐ 7.2 | Animation, Family" – via m.imdb.com.
  81. ^ "1973". Doctor Who Chronicles. Panini Comics. 20 October 2022.
  82. ^ "Stories 78-80: Genesis of the Daleks, Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons". Doctor Who: The Complete History. Panini Comics. 2016.
  83. ^ "Lieutenant Kije - 28th December 1979 - BBC Programme Index". 28 December 1979. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
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